Murder on the Trail
by Lisa Moulton
Summary: (UPDATED 3-5 CHAPTER 4 UP and HEAVY EDITING to 1-3) Lisa takes Mark, Jesse, and Steve horseback riding at a stable in New Jersey, but when one of the trail guides gets murdered on the night ride, no one can seem to explain who did it.
1. Flashbacks Are Fun!

**Disclaimers: THIS STORY IS MARY SUE! LEAVE NOW IF YOU INTEND TO FLAME ME! "Diagnosis Murder" is the property of PAX, CBS, Viacom, and ****Paramount****. ****AL**** is mine. Special thanks to my beta reader for helping me in the rewrite.**

_Chapter One: Flashbacks Are Fun!_

It was Saturday morning and an alarm went off as the clock struck seven. Three voices groaned, intent on ignoring the sound and getting more sleep. The fourth person was already awake and ready.

Dr. Mark Sloan of Community General Hospital in Los Angeles, California was bustling around the house, getting breakfast ready for the three other occupants. He was a gray-haired man well into his seventies, long past retiring age, but having so much fun in what he did that retiring was just not an option. "Come on, you three!" he called loudly, his blue eyes twinkling. "Time to get up!"

He didn't get any response, but he could imagine three sets of blankets being pulled up over three separate heads.

Chuckling, Mark headed to the living room, where Lisa had indeed buried her body underneath the covers. For a hostess, she was certainly not acting the part.

Then again, this was _Lisa_. She wasn't exactly what one would call "normal", even though she looked it. She was, for lack of a better word, an alien, but not one of the stereotypical aliens one sees in old movies.

To the casual observer, she was a perfectly ordinary human woman. She had waist-length brown hair, brown eyes, and gold oval-framed glasses and was never seen without her silver ankh necklace. The things that set her apart were her wings and powers, which were both easily hidden from those who shouldn't know about them. There was also that unnatural fire that shone in her eyes whenever something was happening that she didn't like.

Lisa had met Mark several years ago in 1992 when she came to Community General with her then-boyfriend Tommy. They had been vacationing in the area and he had been injured in a surfing accident. Dr. Jack Stewart, Mark's old protégé, had treated him back then. Lisa, being Lisa, made it a point to make friends with the handsome young doctor and his mentor, which resulted in her making friends with Steve, as well.

It was then that they found out Lisa wasn't quite human. It was late one night after visiting hours had been over and Lisa had snuck into the hospital to be with Tommy.

Unfortunately, she'd forgotten to activate her power of invisibility and Jack, on his rounds, found her asleep beside his patient with a glowing yellow-gold wing draped over him like a blanket.

_                         Stunned, he nearly dropped the patient files he'd been carrying. Lisa,  
                         being telepathic and awakened by the onslaught of thoughts running  
                         through Jack's mind, quickly subdued him with a little telekinesis to keep  
                         him from fleeing the room and a hand over his mouth to keep him from  
                         shouting._

_                          "Shh!" she hissed, _sotto voce_. "Relax. If I let you go, do you promise not  
                         to yell?"_

_                         Jack nodded, eyes wide, and when she removed her hand, he tried to run  
                         and found his feet glued to the floor. "What_..._what are you doing?" he  
                         asked in a hushed whisper. "How?"_

_                          "I'll let you go," she said slowly, "if you don't run. I'll be happy to  
                         explain if you let me."_

_                         The young doctor hedged for a good thirty seconds before nodding and  
                         setting down the files._

_                          "Not here," said Lisa, glancing at the sleeping form in the bed._

_                         He led her to his office and shut the door. She began telling her story,  
                         about how she was an alien from a planet called Alnilam, named after its  
                         star, the middle of the three in Orion's belt._

_                          "But you can't tell anyone," she concluded. "Ever."_

_                         Unfortunately, it was the very next day that she overheard Jack talking to  
                         Mark and Steve in Mark's office._

_                          "I'm serious!" he was saying. "She told me. She has wings and  
                         everything! I saw them!"_

_                          "It's getting so you can't even trust doctors nowadays."_

_                         All three of them jumped at the sound of her voice. Mark and Steve had the  
                         impression that Jack was making it up, but Lisa just sighed and made her  
                         wings visible._

_                          "It's true," she said. "But, look, inside, I'm not all that different from you.  
                         Okay, I have wings and a few other abilities, but I'm still a person."_

Mark had to have asked her a million and one questions that morning, each one of which Lisa answered patiently and as thoroughly as she possibly could. Steve, naturally, was rather suspicious of her, but she rightly pointed out the facts: She could have hurt Jack or let them think he was crazy or overworked, but, no, she'd opted to reveal herself rather than let him be mocked and ridiculed for the rest of his life.

It had taken a little coaxing, not to mention answering all of Mark's questions, but the three of them had all kept her secret afterward.

After that vacation, Lisa, and sometimes Tommy, kept popping in on their lives on and off throughout the years. When she met Jesse Travis sometime after Jack left, it wasn't exactly love at first sight, but it sure came close. One day, she had just come right out and told him she wasn't human.

_                          "Hey, Jess? I want to tell you something_…_and, it's not easy."_

_                          "Hey, you can tell me anything," he replied._

_                         Instead, she decided to just show him. Her wings shimmered into  
                         view. Jesse jumped, shocked and surprised._

_                          "I'm not an angel," Lisa said, for that was usually the first  
                         impression people got unless she was already using one of her  
                         powers as she had on Jack years ago. She then proceeded to  
                         explain._

_                         Jesse quietly listened. It wasn't as if he wanted to disbelieve her,  
                         because, after all, the evidence was sitting there next to him.  
                         Moreover, he liked her a lot, but when she spoke one simple  
                         sentence:_

_                          "Mark and Steve already know_…_"_

_                          "What?!"_

_                          "Years ago, Jack walked in on us the night Tommy spent in  
                         Community General. I was asleep, so was he. Jack saw my wings.  
                         He told them both the next day."_

_                         Silence, then, "Oh." He paused briefly. "Is_…_the alien thing the  
                         reason you don't seem to get any older?"_

_                         She nodded. "I'm immortal, and I have the ability to time travel."_

_                          "I see_…_"_

It was rather lucky that Jesse had met Lisa before an incident that had happened a few years back. He had been kidnapped, tortured, then drugged without his knowledge to convince him that he had been abducted and experimented on by aliens. It was later proven that it had all been a con to discredit him, yet it had still shaken him terribly. Since he'd met Lisa beforehand, he at least had an understanding soul to talk to about his experience. She'd listened, comforted, and had eventually calmed him and told him that she'd always be there if he needed her.

 Mark had known Jesse would take it all in stride, after a couple of missteps, because he was secretly in love with Lisa, or at least Jesse thought he was, everyone else could tell they were crazy about each other. He finally got his chance with her, for many, _many_ years later when Tommy died and Lisa had finally stopped crying herself to sleep every night, she remembered how fond she was of Jesse and went back to him.

_                          "Hi, Jess."_

_                          "Lisa!"_

_                         He went to embrace her, and stopped, seeing something in her  
                         eyes. Something_…_haunted._

_                          "What's wrong?"_

_                         She sniffed. "It's Tommy_…_Jesse, he_…_" Words caught in her  
                         throat, she covered her face with her hands._

_                          "Oh, Lis," he said softly, taking her by the shoulders and leading  
                         her to a chair. "Sit down. Tell me, what's wrong? What  
                         happened?"_

_                         Lisa swallowed hard, shaking, head down. "Two years ago_…_to  
                         me, anyway, he_…_he died, Jesse."_

_                          "What?" he asked, disbelieving. "But I only saw you both_…_"_

_                          "I said, 'To me'. We were together_…_" She began counting on  
                         her fingers, but soon gave up and sighed. "A long time. Very  
                         long." She looked up at him. "It still hurts, Jess." Tears began to  
                         run down her cheeks._

_                          "All right," Jesse whispered. "All right, shh." He took her into  
                         his arms and held her, near tears himself. He barely understood  
                         time travel, let alone how Lisa was able to freely move about in  
                         time, and somewhere inside he knew that, technically, Tommy was  
                         still alive and well and with Lisa in a town forty minutes away by  
                         car, but this news was still a bigger shock than she telling him she  
                         wasn't human._

She hung around afterward, and she and Jesse became a couple, finally able to share the feelings they'd held back for so long.

Lisa wasn't exactly what one would call "normal", but, alas, she _was_ what one would call "incredibly lazy". One day last week, she'd shown up at Mark's front door at his beach house in Malibu and offered to take him, Steve, and Jesse horseback riding at a stable in New Jersey where she worked. As one of Lisa's powers was the ability to teleport – disappear from one place and reappear in another – which reduced the cost of airfare, and the three of them happened to have the weekend off, Mark and Jesse readily agreed. Steve was rather reluctant and needed a little coaxing, but the man needed a vacation.

She brought them to her house in New Jersey where they would stay for the duration of the visit. As no one at the stables knew what Lisa was, they'd have to travel by car, and it was an hour away with traffic, so they'd have to leave by 8:15 at the latest to get there when they opened at 9.

So there she was, lying on the couch because Jesse was using her room, still trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

"Lisa," Mark called, "come on, wake up."

She groaned and rolled over onto her side, facing away from him. "G'way," she muttered. "Wan' sleep."

"This was _your_ idea."

Groaning again, she covered her head with the pillow, which Mark promptly removed, resulting in him receiving a long, low whine.

"Mark," she complained, "come on."

"You said you'd take us riding," he pointed out. "We have to leave in an hour to get there on time."

This time, the sound that escaped her throat sounded suspiciously like a growl. Lisa was definitely _not_ a morning person.

"You can make all the sounds you like," said Mark, un-phased, "but it won't make me leave you alone."

"Urgh!" she grunted, annoyed. "Fine. I'm up, I'm up." She pulled down the blankets and reached for her glasses.

"Good girl. Come have breakfast while I get Steve and Jesse up."

He turned and left her glaring at his departing back.

_End part one._


	2. Echo Lake Stables

**THIS STORY IS MARY SUE! Everyone from the stables is a real person. The horses are real horses. In fact, I work with them every day ('cept Wednesday and Thursday – or Monday and Friday at the time of the rewrite – unless Kathy calls me in). The song mentioned is called "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing" and is sung by Trace Adkins. Kevin's speech is also real and I ran the words together because that's _exactly_ how he says it. *wink* Special thanks to my beta reader for helping me in the rewrite.  
          _Reviews (from old version):_ DMFAN: Descriptions and the burning question of how they met have been added to Chapter One.  
                          Betty: You know, I was gonna rewrite the DM ep "Murder Can Be Contagious" since it's one of my favorite episodes. I'd need to get it on tape again, first, though.  
                          BlanaPirahna: Where she came from is a story in itself, but how she met Mark et. al. has been added to Chapter One.  
                          Anonymous: Chapter Two ended up being 7 pages because there was so much I wanted to cover before I started Chapter Three. Chapter One is what I call the "Dummy Chapter". It's nearly the same situation as my Power Rangers/Diagnosis Murder crossover "Road Trips Can Be Hazardous to One's Health". Basically a goofy chapter to get the story rolling, as it were.  
                          J0: Chapter One now has how they met.  
                          sax-chick: Thanks. ^^  
                          Seana Louisie: As you can see, I'm advertising for a beta-reader. Without one, I always go over previous chapters before adding a new one. Habit.  
                          adsh: Mary Sue/MarySu is defined as (in an article I can't link to because FF.net doesn't like hyperlinks or URLs) "Often done by many inexperienced fanfic writers, the Mary Su has the author portrays himself or herself as a 'super character' in the story, one with all the answers, and someone the other characters look up to. The term is taken from an early fan fiction work for 'Star Trek,' in which the author created a character based upon herself named Mary Su."  
                          Tracie1: Back-story's now added to Chapter One.**

_Chapter Two: __Echo__Lake__ Stables_

After twenty minutes, Mark had finally gotten everyone out of bed and they had converged in the small kitchen to eat breakfast. Well, everyone except Lisa. For some reason, she'd opted to skip it instead. She stood by with a sour look on her face while her three friends munched on the various cereals in her pantry.

"Your face is going to freeze like that," commented Mark with a small smile.

"Feh," she grunted. "Too damned early."

"This _was_ your idea," the tall, dark-haired man seated at the table pointed out, though Steve Sloan, homicide detective for the LAPD, tried to conceal a yawn.

His only response was a sleepy-eyed glare, but he ignored it. After many years of friendship, they were _all_ used to her personality quirks. In fact, they were just a few of the reasons Jesse fell in love with her.

Resident in ER medicine Jesse Travis ran a hand through his sleep-tousled, dirty-blond hair. Lisa's bed was _not_ the most comfortable thing to sleep on, as it was a pull-out sofa bed with a paper thin mattress, but she had only one AeroBed and Steve was using it for the duration of their stay.

"I don't blame her for being grumpy," Jesse said. "Getting up at seven…crazy."

"Exactly." Lisa nodded, then headed to her room to get dressed. "Remember to put on jeans, guys."

It was just past eight when the four of them were finally ready to leave. Lisa grabbed her red jacket and straw cowboy, or cowgirl, in her case, hat with the turkey feather in the band and handed Mark the keys with a muttered "Here, you drive", dragged Jesse into the back seat of her red Plymouth Sundance and promptly dozed off using the young man's lap as a pillow.

Luckily, just before she'd fallen asleep, she'd given Mark very specific directions to the place. "Follow route twenty-three north, take a right on Echo Lake Road, it's the first right you come to. Can't miss it. Wake me when we get there." So, he happily obliged.

The one good thing about Lisa sleeping was that she didn't sing along with the radio. Not normally, anyway, but she was too tired now to speak let alone sing. It didn't stop Mark from doing so, however, but no one minded. Mark was a very good singer, unlike Lisa who couldn't carry a tune if it had handles.

Traffic was good for a change, so it only took forty-five minutes to get to the stables instead of an hour.

Turning onto Blakely Lane, the first thing they saw was houses along the road. Mark steered the car to the right to enter the stable area itself.

As they came up the rocky driveway, they saw pens with horses on either side, three on the right and two on the left. There was also a ring with poles, cones, and barrels inside.

"Lisa," Jesse said, tugging gently on her hair, "we're here."

"Yeah, I know," she replied, somewhat more coherently than she'd spoken all morning, opening her eyes and straightening up. She pointed to each of the areas in turn as they passed them. "That's the Shelter Pen. Taco, Cinco, and Deer live there. Just there's the Pony Pen, but some of the boarders' horses go in there, too. There's the ring. And, on the other side, is A, B, and C Pen for the other boarder horses. Or C, B, and A since we're passing them in reverse." She pointed to a porch where another car was sitting. "Park right there, next to that black car."

Mark did as she instructed and they opened the doors, which resulted in the scent of horses wafting their way. Almost immediately, the sound of crowing roosters assaulted their ears.

"Aren't they a little late?" Steve asked.

Lisa shrugged as she attached a red lead rope to her jeans pocket. "They have no concept of time," she said, then advised, "Try not to step in any manure, guys." She had on work boots that had already been drowned in ankle-deep mud, manure, water, and all sorts of different tortures, and said boots were most definitely _not_ waterproof, so she didn't really care about where her own feet landed.

As they rounded the corner, the horses tied to the hitching posts started to nicker the moment they saw the group. One horse in the Catch Pen – an area used to catch horses to be readied to saddle – whinnied the moment they came into view. He was a gorgeous gelding, light brown in color with a crooked white stripe running down his nose.

As Lisa had the ability to understand animals, what she heard was: **_"Lisa! Gonna ride me today?"_**

Smiling, she replied, "No, Diego. I told you: Kathy needs you for hack."

The horse, Diego, hung his head, disappointed. Jesse took notice. "What was that about? What's a hack?"

"A hack is a horse that takes the trails, not leads them. As in, they follow the guide horse. That horse is Diego," Lisa explained as she led her companions to the side of the barn. "He's my favorite. I love him."

Diego whickered appreciatively.

"I just can't use him for a guide."

As they walked past the tack room, they could hear singing and a rhythmic _chink, chink, chink_ coming from inside. There was a space big enough for the three of them to stand near the post without getting kicked, so they came closer. They could see the source of the song inside: a young man in a black cowboy hat with a hawk feather in the band, blue Wrangler jeans, long-sleeved shirt, leather calf-length chaps called chinks, boots and spurs (the source of the _chink_ sound) was lifting a saddle off one of the bottom racks.

_                                                   "Forget mathematical equations  
                                                             Self help psychology  
                                              Gray matter don't matter much, darlin'  
                                             When it's gettin' down to you and me_…_"_

Recognizing the voice, grinning, Lisa joined in.

 "_This ain't no thinkin' thing  
                                                           Right brain, left brain  
                                                   It goes a little deeper than that_…"__

He came out of the tack room carrying the saddle. As he placed it on a large buckskin named Amigo, Lisa made a gesture the guy took to mean: "C'mon, let's finish the chorus!".

_                                         "It's a chemical, physical, emotional devotion  
                                                  Passion that we can't hold back  
                                            There's nothin' that we need to analyze  
                                               There ain't no rhyme or reason why  
                                       'Cause this ain't, this ain't no thinkin' thing!"_

"Hey, Kevin!" she said when the last word had been sung.

He smiled as he cinched up the saddle. "Mornin'," he said, voice lightly coated with an Oklahoma accent.

"Meet Mark, Jesse, and Steve."

"You sounded great," Mark complimented.

"Better than me, eh, Mark?" Lisa joked and the men chuckled. Looking around, she noticed that the place was strangely abandoned for nearly nine in the morning. "Where is everyone?" she asked Kevin.

"I'm not sure where Kathy is, but Sarah and Bob are turning out boarders. Kim went to empty the wheelbarrow. Jim will be back in a minute. Carrie and Kayleigh are kicking down bunkers."

Jesse tapped Lisa on the shoulder. "What's that?"

"Huh? Oh, it's spreading out the hay to the sides so the horses can eat it." She returned her attention to Kevin. "I'm taking the guys out for an hour; I just need to know who I'm using as a guide."

"Check with Kathy," was Kevin's advice. "If you find her."

Lisa saluted as a joke – Kevin was a private in the army national guard, not someone one saluted to, but she did anyway – then turned to her guys. "I'm going to find Kathy, so you guys wait here. Go say hi to Diego or something. Chat with Kevin, whatever." She jogged off towards the office.

Mark and Jesse spent about half a minute near the Catch Pen, Jesse saying hello to Diego via a pet on the neck, but curiosity got the better of them and they started poking around the place. Steve nervously followed to make sure they stayed out of trouble. Anybody would be nervous about turning Jesse and Mark loose in some place with as much potential trouble as a barn.

They headed for the big barn. Jesse took notice of a pink post-it note tacked to a stall door reading "Do not use this stall baby Silkies inside". Wondering just what "Silkies" were, he peeked through the bars. They were, in fact, baby versions of the chickens roaming around the stables.

 Mark opted for the stall next to it, which was full of hay, tools, and bags of what looked like sawdust, which was used as bedding for the horses. He put his head in to look around, and ended up knocking over brooms and shovels, resulting in a loud clatter that echoed through the building.

A tall, blonde woman with an air of authority, wearing jeans and a shirt with cowboy boots embroidered on it, exited through a door near the front, Lisa behind her.

"Oh, good grief," Lisa said. "Mark! Guys! I told you to wait for me over there." She pointed outside the barn.

Mark chuckled sheepishly as he, Steve, and Jesse put the tools back in their place. "Sorry," he said.

Lisa just grunted and rubbed her forehead with her hand. "Sorry, Kathy. These are my friends."

"You guys have to be more careful," she said.

"Sorry about that," said Steve.

Lisa was silently grateful that her boss wasn't getting angry. At least the guys cleaned up the mess. "So, Kathy," she said, "am I using Cuatro?"

A little brown Mexican horse nickered from a nearby stall. Lisa went to him and scratched his nose. "Hey, bud." This horse, Cuatro, named such because he has four black legs, was Lisa's normal guide horse.

Kathy shook her head. "I need him for a lesson." She looked toward the Hack Pen, then the Catch Pen, surveying each horse. "Uh, use Diego."

To say that Lisa had to scrape her jaw off the ground was putting lightly just how utterly thunderstruck she was. "Really?!"

"Catch him and saddle him, quickly." 

She was headed for the Catch Pen before Kathy had even finished speaking, smiling wider than ever and practically dancing with joy. As she unraveled her lead rope, she sang, "I'm using Diego! I'm using Diego!" Approaching said horse, she said under her breath, "I get to take you on the trail!"

Diego tossed his head happily and stood quietly as she attached the lead rope to his halter and led him out. After clipping him to the hitching post, she dashed into the tack room, nearly crashing into Kevin on his way out, grabbed a brush and curry comb and ran them over Diego's back and girth in record time.

"Watch out, Lis," said Kevin, placing two saddle pads on the horse's back. Lisa had to dodge to one side to keep from getting bopped in the head with them.

"Get his saddle for me, Kev, please?" she asked, falling back to the excuse that it was too heavy for her to lift. In truth, she could use a little telekinesis to levitate it and make it seem lighter, but she didn't want to use her powers too much.

"Yup," Kevin replied.

"Thank you," she said, sing-song, as he placed said saddle on Diego's back and adjusted the pads to fit. Lisa cinched it up as Kevin went to help Kathy get horses for Jesse, Mark, and Steve.

"Is that too tight?" she whispered to Diego as she tightened the girth strap. Usually, she asked Kevin or Kim tighten it for her, but they were both busy. 

Diego took a breath. **_"It's fine,"_** he said softly, the words coming out as a low nicker to anyone else listening in.

"Good," she said patting him on the neck, then looked to see if her guys had been put on horses yet.

Jesse had, on Dillenger, a white-and-brown paint horse who was over at the hay wagon, munching. Kevin was instructing Steve on how to steer Sancho, a brown horse with a white patch on his cheek and Kathy was doing the same to Mark on Amigo. Lisa noticed Steve looked a little stiff and realized how proud he always was. He did need some convincing to come along, after all, but she was pleased that they got him to loosen up a little.

"Jump on, Lis," Kathy said, noticing her standing there watching.

"Right!" she responded, beaming. "C'mon, Diego." She wrapped up her lead rope and attached it to the saddle. Taking the bridle from where it hung off the saddle horn, she placed the reins over the horse's head, then unclipped him from the hitching post and guided the bit into his mouth with her hands. Diego fought a little, only because he was known to not take it right away, but he tried to keep his head down so she didn't have to reach up that far.

Lisa led him to a mounting block, adjusted the stirrups, and climbed on. Unfortunately, she'd made them too long. "Urgh," she groaned. "Kevin, shorten my stirrups for me, please?"

Diego stood patiently as Kevin made the stirrups shorter. "Better?" he asked when he was done.

She placed her feet in. "Yep, thanks."

"No problem."

"Send them out, Kev," said Kathy, walking back towards the office.

Lisa made Diego walk past the hay wagon where Mark, Steve, and Jesse waited on their horses. She looked over her shoulder. "Say it, Kevin."

"But you know these guys," he replied.

"So? Say it anyway, please?"

He had to chuckle. "All right."

Lisa grinned and turned to her guys. "This is great."

"Okay," said Kevin, loud enough for all four of them to hear, "the lady up front is Lisa. Lisa'll be your trail guide. If y'all have any questionscommentsconcernscriticismscritiqueorscontroversies, give 'er a holler. Have fun, come back on top." He said it all in one breath without pausing, running the words together.

"What'd he say?" Jesse asked, laughing.

"Don't worry," said Lisa, "you'll hear it again later."

_End part two._


	3. Do It On the Trail

**Yikes! Sorry it took so long to get this done. I can only really work on it on my days off (Wednesday and Thursday). I also wanted to let you guys know that ****AL**** is gonna play more of a part than _just_ my alter ego. If you see this story to the end, you'll figure out what I mean. The title of the chapter is the stable slogan (if you will). Since I really don't have 'em hear Kevin's speech again, here's what it is: "questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, critiques, or controversies". Special thanks to my beta reader for helping me in the rewrite.  
          _Reviews (from old version):_ J0: We have fun up at the stables. ^^ You'll be happy to know that how they met is now in Chapter One. As for Amanda, check Chapter Three (that's this one ^^).  
                          Cass8: Signed reviews can't be deleted. Only Anonymous. Anyways, I tend to get…what's the word?…protective of my stories/characters. That's why I seem smug/snide/arrogant and everything else. I apologize.  
                          DMFAN: Double review, there. ^^ I'll delete one just as a courtesy to others. I have a few ideas as to what happens to my intended victim. *evil cackle*  
                          I e-mailed you before: One thing before I start: I e-mail a lot of people and don't remember all of them, so a name would help in the future. Thanks. All I can say is thanks for your comments, so thanks for your comments. ^^  
                          Cass: As I would've done the same thing (as a matter of fact, I think I did once or twice…) I'll let it pass.  
                          Taxi Driver: One of my goals is to make Jesse, Mark, and Steve true to the characters we see on TV (I'm actually watching the show as I type this; "Murder at the Telethon" to be exact). As for a strong story…let's cross our fingers and hope, shall we?**

_Chapter Three: Do It on the Trail_

"So, Amanda's working overtime lately, eh?" Lisa said as she and her guys rode through the forest. Dr. Amanda Bentley was Community General's pathologist. Lisa met her at the same time she met Mark.

"Yeah," said Jesse, who was right behind her. "You _did_ invite her to come, right?"

Lisa twisted in the saddle to face him. "Of course I did, Jess. Really. How else would I know she was working?" She shook her head, as if the idea was preposterous.

As they approached the loop in the fire-road, Diego tossed his head. **_"I want to run…can we run? I want to run."_**

His rider reined him to a stop (**_"Easy on the teeth!"_**) and again turned back to her companions. "You guys want to do a little warm-up trot?" She was addressing the horses as well as the men.

**_"YES!"_** Diego always wanted to run, though a lope would be more satisfying. Lisa would allow that on the Cantering Track halfway into the trail.

"Sure," said Jesse.

"All for it," was Steve's hesitant reply. She sensed he was still uneasy, but gave him bonus points for trying lighten up, as it were. She had always thought if he would just let go of some of that stupid macho pride and be willing to look like a fool once in a while, he would have a lot more fun trying new things.

"Let's go." Mark responded.

Dillenger, Amigo, and Sancho were willing to do a trot, as well, **_"As long as we're careful on the rocks,"_** said Amigo. **_"I just got new shoes put on and I don't want to go through it again."_** Amigo wasn't very fond of the farrier.

Lisa chuckled and related his concern to the guys. "You know I slow down before I hit the rocks. Okay, just stay single file, don't pass, and shout 'stop' if you feel uncomfortable." She gave Steve a pointed look. "Let's go!" She gave Diego a light kick in the sides and he trotted down the road with the others following behind.

They couldn't go very long, as the turnoff for the standard hour trail came up rather quickly. Diego desperately wanted to lope, but he held himself back with the knowledge that they could once they were halfway in.

"Lean back in your saddles as we go down the hill," said Lisa as they turned to the right.

They did as instructed and the horses began to grumble about the rocks. Not one of Lisa's trails went by without at least one of them making some kind of complaint, even though Lisa was the only one who understood. Sometimes, she thought they made a big deal out of it _because_ she understood.

"Hey, guys," Lisa said, turning around, a thought striking her, "it just occurred to me. What about BBQ Bob's?"

BBQ Bob's was a small, struggling diner Jesse and Steve both owned. She'd just realized that there'd be no one there to run it with them there with her.

"Well, we weren't about to say no to you." Jesse began.

"As if you could," Steve joked.

"We got our professional chef and wait staff to take care of it," he finished.

She grinned. "You hired them just for me?" she said, pretending to be excited and flattered. She knew they had decided to hire qualified people to work in the restaurant on their opening night, as soon as they realized Steve had forgotten to light the ovens.  The next day, they had a cook and a trained wait staff doing most of the work.

So they rode, mostly in silence but occasionally breaking it with small talk. When they got to the Cantering Track, they had a spirited lope after Lisa made sure the saddles were tight.

**_"Can we go again?"_** asked Diego.

"Can't go again," said Lisa, repeating what he'd asked for the benefit of the guys. "Sorry. Not enough time."

**_"Aww."_**

"He _does_ like to run, doesn't he?" said Mark.

"Yeah. Why do you think I fell in love with him?" she laughed. "C'mon, we have just enough time to go across the bridge."

They rode over the stream, then made a loop around a sort of jug handle. "Lean forward in your saddles when we go up the hill," said Lisa, and they went back the way they came, though turning right instead of going across the Cantering Track again.

"This is the way we come back for the night rides." Lisa said. "The way we come down, too. Opposite way."

"What's the night ride?" asked Mark.

"I didn't mention them? I usually do. Well, it's a two-hour trail ride with an hour-and-a-half barbeque afterwards."

**_"Trail in the dark,"_** said Sancho.

"Right. The trail's in the dark. So, if you can picture going through this – " she gestured to the forest around her. " – in pitch darkness, you have the night ride."

"Sounds like fun." Steve said, finally sounding like he was beginning to relax and enjoy himself. "How much is it?"

"Fifty bucks per person. It's the same as a regular two-hour trail, except you get to party for an hour-and-a-half later. And, if you got fifteen or more people, we'll do a private one for you."

"How often do you have them?"

"Friday and Saturday nights. Need to make a reservation with Kathy."

"Is there one tonight?" asked Jesse.

"Actually, I have no idea." She paused to think. "There's something to ask Kathy when we get back. They're really a lot of fun. In fact, let me tell you something that happened at my first night ride…"

_End part three._


	4. It Starts

**I've been a bad, bad writer, haven't I? Heh, well, I've been having a beta reader go over my old chapters and I didn't want to post anything 'til I had a new chapter to go with it. Special thanks to that beta reader, however, she went on vacation and, if you guys want more story (Sarah does…she's done everything but threaten me bodily harm), I think I should advertise for another 'til my first comes back. So, if you'd like the job, please e-mail me and put "beta reader" or something similar in the subject line so I don't delete it by accident. Some of the things that happen in this chapter really happened. Johnny getting kicked, the Indian Dance, and the old man at Colorado Café, to name a few.  
          _Reviews:_ DMFAN: Sorry you had to wait so long. ^^;;  
                          I e-mailed you before: Amanda'll probably be showing up soon. Chapter Five, maybe. Don't worry. I will be bringing her in.  
                          J0: Yeah, Amanda's coming. Just a matter of time.  
**                          **cayenta****: I've been desperately trying not to date the story, but if I had to pick I'd say the summer of 2003.**

_Chapter Four: It Starts_

"…so, since he was a _wee_ bit drunk – "

"Oh, no…"

" – he goes and trips over his feet and smacks his face into the tree stump."

Lisa, Mark, Steve, and Jesse were returning from the trail ride and Lisa was telling a story about what had happened at her first night ride, a birthday party for a 10-year-old girl named Danielle: the birthday girl and another, Alyssa, had specifically requested for Kevin to do an Indian Dance, as he had been a member of a Native American dance team, plus it was one of the most hilarious things ever.

"I'm not drunk enough yet!" he had protested at the time. After he'd had two (give or take) more Coronas, he did fulfill the request and did, indeed, trip and whack his face on a tree stump. In fact, the mark from it was still visible. Lisa told the story to everyone she could, always trying to get within earshot of Kevin himself, mostly because she knew it drove him crazy, which was why she did it in the first place.

The guys exchanged looks as if they were not sure how Lisa could find such an immature, irresponsible display amusing.

She sighed and looked over her shoulder at her friends' concerned faces. "Hey, it's not like he does it all the time or even to excess. Only occasionally, right, Kev?" She glanced up to the hayloft.

"Yeah," he replied. "Danielle was lucky it was her birthday, though."

"And you'll do it at mine, right?"

"No!"

Lisa laughed. "You know I love you, Kevin."

"Aww," said a voice from across the way.

She turned and reined Diego to a stop. "Hi, John."

"Lisa, Lisa!" John, co-owner of the stables, was in the workshop across from the barn. In front of him was a hollow box made of wood.

"Johnny, Johnny!" She paused and looked at the wooden box. "Okay, I give up. What is it?"

"It's a cage for you," he replied. "Keep you under control. Kevin said you were getting too wild."

Lisa rolled her eyes and deadpanned a laugh. She heard the cowboy in the hayloft chuckle.

"It's a new feeder for the hack pen," said John. "You give up. Never give up." 

She just shook her head and led her guys to the hay wagon. "Hop off. Once I tie up my horse, I'll help you down and get them."

**_"I'm thirsty,"_** said Diego.

"Sure, bud." Lisa led him to the water trough and shouted, "Trail's in!"

"No, Bob, seriously, go play in traffic!" From out of the barn walked a tall, mustached man and a young, skinny girl. The girl looked genuinely annoyed. They both headed for Lisa's group.

"Morning, Bob. Hi, Sarah," said Lisa and introduced her friends.

"How was your ride?" asked Bob, immediately heading for the closest rider, which happened to be Jesse. He began instructing the young man on how to dismount, correcting him when he did the slightest thing wrong. Lisa and Sarah helped down Mark and Steve, respectively, and tried to tune him out, as Bob in full lecture-mode was a near-impossible thing to interrupt. 

As Sarah brought Sancho over to the trough, Lisa asked her, in low tones, "What are you telling him to go play in traffic for now?"

" 'Cuz he's being an ass," was her answer.

"What else is new?"

Bob was not well liked among the stable crew. He had a story for everything and, if not a story, a lecture. Almost everyone couldn't stand the man. Steve had inadvertently walked behind one of the horses and he was now lecturing both he and Jesse on safety procedures. Granted, it was an important thing to know, but it was also mostly common sense that didn't need a twenty-minute-long speech to learn. 

Lisa brought Diego to the hitching post and hurried to rescue her guys.

"Hey, Lis?" Kevin's voice floated over to her.

"Hey, Kev?" she responded in the same tone and glanced to the hayloft.

"Could you give me a hand up here?"

She was in the barn and climbing up the ladder before anyone could mention the fact that it was her day off. "Jess, want to help? Mark, you and Steve can go find Kathy."

Eager to escape Bob's self-important ramblings, the guys scattered like buckshot to do her bidding.

Lisa grinned. "Yay," she said in a goofy kind of voice. "I get to frolic in the hay with both my favorite cowboy and my favorite doctor."

Jesse blushed adorably while Kevin, having heard the "favorite cowboy" line many times before, just smiled.

As Lisa, Kevin, and Jesse cut open bales of hay and filled the bunker, Mark and Steve headed for the wooden ramp where Kathy was standing, talking on the phone. They politely waited for her to finish.

Hanging up the phone, she asked, "What's up, guys?"

"Lisa was telling us about the night rides," said Mark.

"Yes," said Kathy and explained about the two-hour trail in the dark, then the hayride to and from the picnic area in the woods afterward. "We have a DJ and all-you-can-eat barbeque."

"Is there one tonight?" Steve asked.

Kathy nodded. "You guys want to join in?"

"Yes!" The answer came from Lisa, who was still in the hayloft, yet listening in on the conversation.

"There's you answer," Mark said, chuckling.

Kathy smiled. "All right. Come inside and sign up."

"I get second dance, Kevin," said Lisa, throwing another flake, or section, of hay into the bunker. "Or, maybe first. We can show Jesse how to two-step. Yeah?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Okay, Jess?"

Though not thrilled he wouldn't be getting first dance with his girl, the prospect of learning a new dance made up for it. "Sure," he said.

"Oh," said Lisa, "and you gotta twirl me, Kevin."

A mischievous glint lit up his brown eyes. "What, the old man didn't twirl you enough?"

_WHOOSH!_ A flake of hay flew past his head as Lisa chucked it at him and fell neatly into the bunker.

Kevin laughed, but Jesse was confused. "What's he talking about?"

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Just something that happened at a dance club one Sunday."

Still laughing, Kevin explained. "I took 'er to the Colorado Café with Kim and this old man comes and drags 'er onto the dance floor. He comes up to me and says, 'She's doin' good!'."

Jesse started to laugh. "Mark'll be jealous, Lisa. You always told him no when he asked to dance with you."

She gave him a dirty look and cut open another bale of hay. Kevin, however, was not finished yet. "I bet he just wanted to bump hips with ya."

"Kevin…" she began in a warning tone.

 "What? You tease me about the Indian Dance."

"You're lucky I like you, you know that?"

Kevin, trying unsuccessfully to hide his laughter, just cut open a bale of hay and flung the knife down as he usually did to get the tip stuck in the hay, just to annoy Lisa because doing that made her nervous. She backed away every time.

"I won't hit ya," he said.

"Not intentionally."

Jesse just shook his head at their banter. He could tell they were good friends.

They resumed filling the bunker. Down below, near the entrance on the other end of the barn, Bob was instructing someone on what the next order of business was.

_Bob, shut up,_ was the thought of the victim. It sounded like Sarah.

_Dude, Bob, I heard you the first time! Shut the hell up!_

Yep, definitely Sarah.

The unmistakable brushing sound of hay bales being dragged over the wooden hayloft floor echoed through the barn. No one thought much of it, for it was the normal sound of the barn. 

_WHAM!_

A bale of hay fell from the loft to the ground, the binding twine splitting open and hay being strewn all over the floor.

"Hey!" Bob shouted and the three in the loft jumped at how angry he sounded. The bale had missed him by mere inches. "You guys up there watch what you're doing!"

Lisa, Kevin, and Jesse walked to the bridge between the lofts and looked down on Bob and Sarah. "What'd we do?" asked Lisa, annoyed.

"A bale nearly flattened Bob," said Sarah, sounding amused.

"And you think we did it?" Jesse asked.

"How?" Kevin said, also annoyed. "There's a wall of hay between us. I wasn't even _in_ that part of the loft today."

"Hell," Lisa said, "only someone probably Sarah's size could squeeze in there, now."

"_I_ didn't do it!" Sarah protested.

"I didn't say you did."

John came through the doors, leading his horse, Snorty. "What happened here?" he asked.

Bob glared as Kevin, Lisa, and Jesse went back to the bunker. "Just a little accident," he said, then proceeded to clean up the mess by handing Sarah a rake. "Here, kiddo."

She gave him a smoldering look, a series of vicious thoughts running through her mind, and though Lisa could hear them, she didn't give them much thought. Everyone who came in contact with Bob had an _I'm going to kill him_ thought now and again. She, herself, most definitely did.

John put Snorty in a stall, then left everyone in the barn to their own devices. The horse, however, protested loudly about being shut in. He banged on the door with his hoof, walked around in circles, and whinnied loudly. Lisa didn't need to understand animals to know that he wasn't happy.

Bob had started talking to Sarah again, but she and the three in the loft tuned him out. Instead, Lisa focused on another voice.

"Okay, just bring your horses to the hay wagon and we'll help you off."

It was Kim, a pretty young woman riding in with a trail. She was riding a chestnut horse she had dubbed "Sexy".

"Hi, Kim!" Lisa called as she passed the loft.

"Hi, Lisa!" she responded.

"Hey, Kevin," said another voice, this one male. "I'm going for lunch. Do you want anything?"

The three in the loft looked through a window to see a man in denim standing below them. Lisa waved. "Hi, Jim!"

"Hey, Lisa," he replied. "I thought you were off today."

"I am…sort of. We were kind of escaping Bob. This is Jesse, and Mark and Steve were headed for Kathy the last I saw 'em. They're my friends from California."

"Nice meeting you," said Jim. "Kev, lunch?"

"No, I'm good. But Kim just came in, so you better check with her."

Jim nodded and started to walk away, but Lisa stopped him. "Wait, Jim. Here." She walked to the bridge, scrunched up some money and tossed it down to him. "Get me my usual, will you? Jess, want anything?"

"Where's he going?"

"A deli."

"Well, uh…they have burgers?" At Lisa's nod, he placed his order for a cheeseburger and a side of fries.

"Jim," said Lisa, "there's enough there for Mark and Steve, if they want anything. Mark's tall with white hair and a mustache and Steve's got dark hair."

"Yeah, I saw 'em. Okay, I'll be back in a bit." With that, Jim left.

Lisa checked her watch. "It's not noon, yet. Why're you eating so early?"

"I think she has some big group coming," said Kevin.

"Oh."

The bunker didn't take long to fill with three of them working, so when they were done, they headed down to take it back where it belonged.

Kevin and Jesse climbed down the ladder first. Even with all her abilities, the thing made Lisa nervous because it was angled slightly the wrong way, so she always had someone go down before her to cushion the landing should she fall.

Slowly, she climbed down. When she reached the second-to-last rung, Kevin crept quietly up behind her and tickled her sides, resulting in making her squeak and clinging to the ladder. Jesse laughed.

"Oh, hah, hah," she muttered. "Kevin, get over here, I'm gonna jump down on you. I'm serious. Come here and catch me."

He did and set her down on her feet after she jumped from the ladder into his arms. She and Jesse then followed Kevin into the barn to the tractor and bunker. He hopped into the driver's seat and told Jesse to climb on the bar on the back of the tractor as Lisa clambered up next to the seat, holding onto the side handle with one hand and the back of the seat with another. Lisa always rode up front with Kevin when she could. 

The three of them took the bunker back to C Pen, and when they headed back in order to pick up one of the hack pen bunkers, they noticed Jim's truck was in the parking lot, meaning he was back with lunch. Kevin parked the tractor by the barn doors and he, Lisa, and Jesse headed for the office.

Inside the barn, Bob and Sarah were still cleaning the mess on the floor and Bob was still talking.

_WHAM!_

Another bale fell from the loft, but this one didn't break open.

Lisa pointed. "You can't blame that on us. We weren't even up there!"

Jesse gave Lisa an odd look, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Kevin did, too. Neither of them knew it, but they were both thinking the same thing. Lisa's mind filled with their accusatory thoughts of using her powers, but she ignored them for now.

Kevin headed for his car while Lisa and Jesse entered the office. Jim was sitting with Kayleigh, a girl with long brown hair, Kim, and Carrie, a girl with short blonde hair. Kathy was sitting at her desk with Mark and Steve signing up for the night ride.

"Hi, Kayl," said Lisa. "Hi, Carrie. Hello, again, Kim." She gestured to the pair at Kathy's desk. "That's Mark and Steve, if you haven't met 'em already. And this is Jesse," she said, taking his arm. She turned to Mark and Steve. "All set up for the night ride?"

Mark nodded. "Yup."

"What was that racket outside?" asked Kathy.

"Falling hay bales," said Lisa, leading Jesse over to the table where bags from the Newfoundland Deli sat. She picked out Jesse's burger and fries, as well as her usual of a roast beef sandwich on a roll and a Code Red Mountain Dew. Steve came over and took out the things he and his father had ordered.

"Nearly hit Bob," Jesse added. "He and Sarah are cleaning it up."

Kathy looked both annoyed and concerned. Kevin came through the front door carrying his own lunch, and she cast her blue-eyed gaze on him, as if accusing him of the deed. "You were the last one in the hayloft."

Guessing as to what she was talking about, Kevin was quick to defend himself. "Not there, Kathy. You can't get to that part of the loft yet."

"He's right," said Lisa. "There's no way he could fit in the small space that's up there."

Since no one got hurt, Kathy just gave Kevin a warning to be more careful, despite his protests that he had nothing to do with it, and turned her attention to a magazine. Lisa and Kevin exchanged glances, and he simply shook his head. Jesse looked sidelong at him, but he didn't want to say anything with so many people around. He joined the two of them on the couch in front of Kathy's desk, as the places at the table were all taken. Mark and Steve stood beside them by the window.

" 'Snapple Real Fact Number Ten'," said Kayleigh, reading from the cap, " 'Mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas'."

"Bob been bitten lately?" Lisa asked, then added for the benefit of her LA friends, "He has specific times set aside a day for a banana." She shook her head.

Bob and Sarah then entered the office, John following behind. Snorty's noises became louder, and Kathy put down her magazine with an annoyed sigh.

"John, do something with that horse," she said.

"I'll ride him, don't worry about it."

As Snorty's protests continued, Kathy finally stood up and exited the office. There was a loud whinny, then silence, and she came back minutes later.

"_Now_ he's quiet." She sat down and returned to her magazine.

Curious, John went to the barn to find out what she'd done. He returned carrying a plastic bag. "She had it weaved through the bars of the stall. He was staring at it, stock still." John crinkled the bag. "It's time to break this horse to plastic." He exited again, and in no time Snorty was whinnying and pounding the stall once more.

"Was he scared of the bag?" asked Jesse.

Bob, ever eager to hear his own voice, started to speak. "There is no plastic where Snorty comes from. He's never seen it before." He paused to register the disbelief on Lisa's friends' faces. "Yes, unbelievable, but true. We get our horses direct from auctions in Texas and Mexico. Most aren't used to things like plastic bags."

"Or plastic ponchos," added Lisa. "Queso, one of our Mexican horses, spooked every time mine got near him, so I couldn't wear it around him."

Bob continued. "Anything they're not used to, they're cautious of. That's why they have to be broken to things. It's part of training them. Snorty's reaction to the bag is him saying, 'I don't want to be eaten'. He doesn't know the bag's not alive."

There was a loud bang and a cry of pain; John staggered back inside, holding his leg.

"John, what happened?" asked Kathy.

"He kicked me." On his leg was a horseshoe-shaped patch of dirt.

There was a chorus of "John, are you all right?" While he assured everyone that he was, Kathy still sent him home.

Things were tranquil right then and there, but they were going to get even more interesting.

_End part four._


End file.
